From where I stand

Hezekiah’s Tunnel and the Bible as History

The Bible is an historical document. The Old Testament chronicles the encounters and relationships of the people who descend from a man named Abraham who came from the region of Ur, which is currently southwest Iraq. Many people dismiss the Old Testament, and the Bible as a whole, as religious myth, but historical and geographical references suggest there is more to the Bible than myth.

The focus of the Old Testament is on the purported relationship of these people to their God, and most of the detail involves the relational aspect of these people to God, themselves and other people. In the course of this chronicle, many historical details are given.

If the Bible were all myth, the historical details would not add up. Indeed, many people, including some eminent archaeologists and historians, discount the historical and archaeological value of the Bible. Many of the historical details, however, have been borne out by historical and archaeological evidence. One example is King Hezekiah’s tunnel.

First, a little background is helpful. After the reign of King Solomon ended in 930 BC, these descendants of Abraham, split into two nations: ten of the “tribes” formed Israel, the northern kingdom with its capital City, Samaria, and three tribes (Judah, Levi and Benjamin) formed the southern kingdom of Judah, with Jerusalem its capital.

The northern kingdom turned completely away from God and the commandments and rituals they had been instructed to follow. They turned to the worship of the gods of the indigenous people that they allowed to remain in the land God told them to clear for themselves. The reign of the kings of Israel ended after Samaria was overrun and fell to the Assyrians in 722.

King Hezekiah reigned 29 years from 716-687, starting after the northern kingdom was overrun, and his rule was shadowed by the threat of Assyria right on the border of Judah. Hezekiah followed the 16 year reign of his father who did not follow God’s commands and closed the temple to worship in Jerusalem. Before he took over the throne, Judah had become subservient to Assyria that had conquered Israel, though Judah remained sovereign.

Then, Hezekiah stood up to the King of Assyria and stopped paying the tribute. Assyrian King Sennacherib responded by attacking the fortified border cities and easily conquered them. Before Sennacherib attacked Israel, King Hezekiah made peace by offering to pay whatever tribute Sennacherib demanded, and Hezekiah obliged though the demand was large.

Hezekiah, then, prepared for additional to break free from the Assyrian grip, anticipating an eventual siege. He plugged the wells and springs in the countryside and blocked the irrigation system for the fields that sprawled out from the city which sat on a fortified rock plateau. He also dug a long tunnel in the rock under the city, effectively diverting the spring that irrigated the fields under the city to a pool within the city walls.

The city withstood the siege that followed until Sennacherib was called away to attend to an attack on Assyria launched by Egypt. The Assyrian army that remained around Jerusalem was struck by a plague, and 185,000 Assyrian soldiers died. Sennacherib was assassinated while he was away, and Judah gained its complete independence.

At this point, a twist happens. Hezekiah became ill to the point of death. The prophet, Isaiah came to him and told him to “set your house in order” in preparation for death. Hezekiah wept before God, and God told Isaiah that He heard the King’s cry and would give him 15 more years to live. (2 Kings 20)

Being skeptical, the King asked for a sign that the prediction (promise) was true. Isaiah asked him what he wanted for a sign. When Hezekiah asked for the shadow on the wall to retreat from where it came, Isaiah “cried to the Lord”, and the shadow retreated back ten steps up the stairs by which it had gone down. The summary of Hezekiah’s life in 2 Kings is concluded with these words:

I will get to the “pool and conduit” of water shortly, as that is the focus of this blog article. First, however, I note that the focus of Hezekiah’s story in the Old Testament is on his relationship to God.

He was a godly man for most of his career, but that changed, ironically, after God healed him of the fatal illness.. After he was healed, rather than live out his life in thanksgiving and obedience to God, Hezekiah became proud. (2 Chron. 32:25)

When diplomats came from Babylon with a message of congratulations for standing up to Sennacherib, apparently as a ruse for determining how the King defeated Sennacherib, as Babylon also wanted to defeat the Assyrians, the King passed up the opportunity to glorify God for delivering Judah. Instead, Hezekiah showed the emissaries his armory and treasury. The prophet, Isaiah, reprimanded Hezekiah for his lack of faith and predicted the Babylonian captivity that would come to pass 100 years later.

The character of the king and his responses and relation to God are the key points of the biblical account. The historical and geological statements, however, lend some credence to the more spiritual focus of the story. Of particular interest is the following statement: